prokopetz:

Any time somebody posts a video of some outlandishly large classical instrument, there are always comments to the effect of why would they go to the trouble to make such a large instrument when it just ends up sounding terrible?

Let me explain you a thing.

The sound that comes out of your speakers or headphones sounds awful because your computer is not capable of reproducing what such instruments sound like. Its audio hardware does not have a resonanting chamber large enough nor an electromagnet strong enough to even approximate it.

You know how, when something is deeply known, one might poetically say that it’s felt in the bones? When somebody starts rocking out on one of those puppies, you can literally feel it in your bones. These devices are capable of achieving the resonant frequency of the human skeleton.

What they sound like to the ear is very nearly beside the point!

Tags:

#okay but counterpoint: the feeling of a sound resonating in your bones *is* terrible #I avoided the fireworks shows on Canada Day in large part because I can’t stand the resonance of the explosions #when I go to concerts I am always careful to get a seat way in the back so I can just hear it and not have to *feel* it #pretty sure I’ve been known to *leave* some concerts because they didn’t have anywhere far enough back to be safe #is the blue I see the same as the blue you see #music